BiologybioRxiv
Ranked by formulaVerdict: NotableCoronavirus circulation and cross-species transmission in European bats: a new paradigm in betacoronaviruses
Bats are major reservoir hosts of coronaviruses (CoVs), yet the ecological mechanisms governing CoV circulation and cross-species transmission remain poorly understood, particularly in Europe.
Key numbers
- 18.9% of samples
Caveats
- Preprint; not yet peer reviewed.
VerdictWorth a reader's time today.
Abstract
Bats are major reservoir hosts of coronaviruses (CoVs), yet the ecological mechanisms governing CoV circulation and cross-species transmission remain poorly understood, particularly in Europe. Here, we investigated the diversity, host associations, and interspecific transmission dynamics of alpha- and betacoronaviruses in European bats using an integrated phylogenetic and network-based approach. We analysed 835 guano samples collected from 31 bat roosts in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands (Spain) between 2020 and 2024, encompassing 14 bat species from three families. CoV RNA was detected in 18.9% of samples, with five alphacoronavirus and two betacoronavirus subgenera identified. Virus-host networks were highly structured and non-random, with strong modularity and specialization, and a small subset of bat species occupying central connector roles. Notably, we report the first confirmed detection of sarbecoviruses in Miniopterus schreibersii, expanding their known host range beyond Rhinolophidae, and identify merbecoviruses in Rhinolophus euryale for the first time. Phylogenetic and seasonal patterns suggest that these associations reflect ecologically mediated cross-species transmission facilitated by mixed roosting, synchronized colony phenology, and spatial overlap. Our findings reveal greater permeability of coronavirus host boundaries than previously assumed and highlight multi-species bat colonies and ecological networks as key contexts for understanding and anticipating viral emergence.
The editor's rubric
| Dimension | Level | Weight | What that level means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leverage | ███░░ 3 | 24% | A method or resource many groups across the field will adopt within a year. |
| Magnitude | ███░░ 3 | 16% | Large gain: roughly 2x, or a clear new state of the art on a hard, unsaturated problem. |
| Evidence | ███░░ 3 | 20% | Solid: multiple benchmarks or cohorts, ablations, fair baselines, released code or data. |
| Novelty | ████░ 4 | 20% | Challenges a prevailing assumption with evidence. |
| Trajectory | ██░░░ 2 | 10% | Some room to improve with obvious engineering. |
| Stakes | ██░░░ 2 | 10% | Benefits a professional community (practitioners, clinicians, engineers). |
Editor’s rationale
Heuristic triage from title and abstract text only, not a reading of the paper. Cues found: method (we report, new method); breadth (many tasks); firsts (for the first time, first); novelty (contrary to expectation, new kind); verification (multiple benchmarks, independent replication).
How the score was computed
- Merit
- 6.0 / 10
- Adjusted merit
- 5.0 / 10
- Attention
- 0%
- Freshness
- 88%